yeah this is kind of my conundrum. Like I said in my first post, I have a 3rd gen, stock 5spd manual with factory e-locker. I've had it for about 2 years. It's awesome offroad, I pass built jeeps on difficult trails all the time. But I hate it for daily driving. I mean, I don't completely hate it. The sunroof and tailgate combo makes it a really nice sunny day mild drive around town cruiser. But I absolutely hate it on twisty roads and the interstate, which I do a lot. I've always been known amongst my family and friends as the road trip warrior, I've hopped in my car and driven for a month straight more times that I can count. 24 hour drives are common for me, etc. I hate driving this thing long distance so much that I've completely quit taking any road trips at all. I did one trip from Denver to SLC and two weeks later went from Denver to Jackson Hole, and since the misery of those, I've decided I'd rather stay at home.
I actually NEED a new car right now with the state my 3rd gen is in (or a few thousand and a week off of work to fix everything), so I started looking at 5th gens because offroad and Toyota reliability and dog and bike carrying and they look cool. But A: f*ck the price and B: all of the above about it sucking as a DD and highway driver. I'm kind of thinking maybe I should get a Rav4 or Subaru or maybe even a Lexus IS 350 and turn the 3rd gen into an offroad beast.